Why 'Becky Shaw' Sparks Laughs and Arguments

TDF: When talking about what audiences will think of Second Stage’s revival of her 2008 dark comedy Becky Shaw, Gina Gionfriddo sounds as apprehensive as someone prepping for a blind date. That’s appropriate since the Pulitzer finalist play is about a setup that goes hilariously, painfully wrong. “I certainly have some anxiety about how the play will be received all these years later in this particular cultural moment,” admits Gionfriddo. “All of my playwriting influences were writers like Nicky Silver and Christopher Durang who mined comedy from cruelty, which I don’t see very much in new plays. I do wonder whether people will feel comfortable laughing.”

‘Death of a Salesman’ on Broadway Has Help From Something Old

The New York Times: When the director Joe Mantello began working on his new production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” now in previews on Broadway, he did the obvious: He read the script. The play’s published text, taught in schools as a pillar of American theater and a tragedy of the American dream, was full of stage directions and descriptions of the set that, Mantello said in an interview, kept cluttering his mind. So he asked the Miller estate whether there was a version stripped of all that.

After Broadway and Hollywood Bowl, Richard Kind Will Bring His Max Bialystock to The Producers in London

Playbill: Stage and screen star Richard Kind, who played Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks' The Producers on Broadway in 2004 and in the 2012 Hollywood Bowl production, will reprise that role opposite Marc Antolin’s Leo Bloom in the current West End revival of The Producers at the Garrick Theatre.

Get a 1st Look at Beetlejuice's Broadway Return

Playbill: eetlejuice the Musical began its third Broadway engagement, this time at the Palace Theatre, October 8, and Playbill has a new look at the netherworld. The Tim Burton-inspired musical returns to the Main Stem via its first national tour, which is closing after a three-year, 88-city run with a 13-week limited engagement at the Palace, through January 3, 2026.

Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle-Led Revival of Proof Finds Its Broadway Home

Playbill: The previously announced, first-ever New York revival of David Auburn’s Tony- and Pulitzer-winning play Proof, co-starring Emmy winner Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) and Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle (Crash) in their Broadway debuts, has found its Broadway home.

‘Cats’ Is Returning to Broadway, This Time With Heels Instead of Paws

The New York Times: “Cats,” the loved-and-loathed Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about, well, cats, is returning to Broadway with an all-new taxonomy. The show, originally set in a junkyard and featuring actors padding around in cat costumes, now has human characters who are cats only in the slang sense. This version is set in the underground ballroom scene, a queer subculture built around dance competitions.

Look Back on the Original Broadway Production of Chess

Playbill: Chess is currently back on the boards, as it readies to open its first ever Broadway revival, led by a trio of young stars: Aaron Tveit, Lea Michele, and Nicholas Christopher. It is also playing at the Imperial Theatre, the same theatre where the show first ran in 1988. But how did a show about a board game, which only had 68 performances on Broadway, become a cult classic?

Lea Michele, Aaron Tveit Talk 'Chess', ABBA & More

www.billboard.com: When it comes to complex legacies, there are few musicals with a more confounding history than Chess. With its expansive pop-rock score created by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of pop supergroup ABBA and lyrics by theater legend Tim Rice, the show’s soundtrack has remained a staple for musical theater fans around the globe.

Sphere’s ‘Wizard of Oz’: Hollywood’s Dazzling Future or Dark Warning?

theankler.com: Tonight, Dorothy Gale is getting a makeover. Not a reboot, not a sequel, not a Wicked-style spin-off — but a high-resolution, AI-assisted re-rendering of The Wizard of Oz inside the $2.3 billion Las Vegas Sphere, the world’s most extravagant immersive entertainment venue.

Vaccine Satire ‘Eureka Day’ Comes Home to the Bay Area

KQED: Over the past seven years, Bay Area actor Lisa Anne Porter has gained a deep appreciation for her character Suzanne, the founder of a fictional private school in Berkeley and a mother of six who refuses to vaccinate her kids.

Indiana natives design scenic 'Treasure Island' set

Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather | Indiana Traffic | WISH-TV |: The Children’s Theater Company in Minnesota is set to open a new production of “Treasure Island” for the first time in over two decades, featuring scenic designs by Indiana natives Christopher and Justin Swader.

Mamma Mia is back on Broadway where it belongs and honestly, thank goodness

The Independent: Neon-colored flare-legged jumpsuits, sequined platform boots, and feather boas. An army of men in swim trunks and flippers belting about flirtatious young love. Add in Donna and The Dynamos with a trio of confused could-be dads and soon there’s a whole ensemble of Dancing Queens singing in perfect multi-part harmony in New York City again.

'Mamma Mia!' returns to Broadway after a decade away, bringing the dance party back to New York

www.thestar.com: When the musical “Mamma Mia!” said goodbye to Broadway a decade ago, there were tears and hugs and tons of applause. In the audience of its last show, one woman wasn’t entirely buying it. “I felt then that it wasn’t goodbye forever. I felt we’d be back one day,” says producer Judy Craymer, who had conceived of the show in the 1980s. “I always hoped.”

TREND ALERT: Is the new model for musical revivals on Broadway NOT to be on Broadway?

The Producer's Perspective: This past season there were only two musical revivals on Broadway. And one of the duo was produced by a non-profit.

And next season, I only see one comin’ . . .

Why the sudden lack? Are we running out of musicals to revive?

‘The Color Purple’ review: This thrilling revival sings straight to us in the audience at the Auditorium

Chicago Tribune: The Broadway musical based on “The Color Purple” tried out in Atlanta in 2004. Sitting there in Georgia, I admired the zest and accessibility of the score and, in particular, the artful and self-effacing way in which Marsha Norman had adapted Alice Walker’s story of a poor African-American woman beset by cruelty and looking in vain for the benevolence of her God.

West Side Story Is Returning to Broadway

themuse.jezebel.com: Hello, Broadway producer, I’m so glad you brought this to my attention—I’m delighted to hear about West Side Story returning to the Great White Way, and I will certainly pay big Broadway money to sit front row and scream-sing the lyrics to “I Feel Pretty,” thank you!!!!

New ‘West Side Story’ From Ivo van Hove and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

The New York Times: Two Belgians want to be in America. Ivo van Hove, the experimental director, and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, the rigorously avant-garde choreographer, will take on “West Side Story” for a Broadway production that will begin previews in December 2019, and open on Feb. 6, 2020, at an as-yet-unnamed theater, the producer Scott Rudin announced on Thursday.

The Problem With Broadway Revivals: They Revive Gender Stereotypes, Too

The New York Times: Billy Bigelow hits Julie Jordan. Henry Higgins molds Eliza Doolittle. Fred tames Lilli. And Edward rescues Vivian.

Amid a national reckoning with sexual harassment and misconduct, Broadway is mounting a cluster of musicals this season and next that, some theatergoers already contend, romanticize problematic relationships between women and men.

Broadway’s 2018 Word of the Year: Complicit

OnStage Blog: “Complicit” was Dictionary.com’s 2017 Word of the Year – and if the 2018-19 musical lineup continues as planned, it may define Broadway’s upcoming season as well. It’s a trifecta of shows featuring so much gaslighting, outdated gender norms, and straight up domestic abuse that it feels like a season straight out of 1960, at best.